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The Kingdom of Women

The scenery is spectacular on the road from Lijiang to Lake Lugu in China's Yunnan province. Domestic tourism is booming here, on the borders of Tibet, Vietnam, Burma and Laos. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Yunnan, China - The Musuo live on the banks of the pristine Lake Lugu, high in the mountains on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in southwestern China.

In this traditional matriarchal culture, children live in their mother's home for their whole life. Grandmothers are heads of Musuo households. Family name and inheritance is passed through the female line and most manual labour is carried out by women. Men are, however, responsible for hunting and fishing.

"Walking marriage" is a unique aspect of Musuo culture. In this practice, women can have as many or as few lovers as they choose. If a man is chosen as a partner, usually at a "fire dance" - where villagers gather to socialise - he will visit the woman at her family home at night and must return to his mother's home before sunrise. If a child is conceived, it will be raised by the mother and her family.

Due to their customs, the home of the Musuo, who number only around 40,000, has come to be known as the Kingdom of Women. Their reputation for "free love", along with the breathtaking landscape of their homeland draws increasing numbers of tourists, who travel by bus from Lijiang, in Yunnan Province, seven hours away.

Tourism has already made a huge impact on Musuo life, but they welcome the new wealth the tourists have brought to their villages. Until recently, Musuo survived on subsistence agriculture and hunting. Today, the villagers own iPads and sports utility vehicles. Much of their income is derived from entrance fees paid by tourist groups to attend fire dances.

It remains to be seen how much of the Musuo way of life can be preserved in the face of increasing curiosity and influence from the outside world, but practicing their traditions for visitors is one way they are fighting to keep their culture alive.

Aya Si Geng Ma, 69, and her nine-year-old grandson Aya Seny Long Duo Je at home in Luoshui Village, a Musuo community on the edge of Lugu Lake. The Musuo ethnic minority is a matriarchal society who practice Tibetan Buddhism. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Du Zhi Ma, 68, poses in front of colourful Musuo textiles at her home in Luoshui Village. The region is home to the matriarchial Musuo ethnic minority who practice "walking marriage". [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Local men of the Musuo ethnic minority meet at a street market in Lake Lugu Township. The Mosuo people live in a matriarchal (or matri-lineal) society where name and inheritance is passed down through the female line. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Ci Li, a 34-year-old Naxi shaman, reads from a mystic text to determine the future of an Australian journalist. The Naxi ethnic minority are believed to have one of the world's last remaining pictographic languages. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Aya Si Geng Ma is the 69-year-old head of a Mosuo household of eleven in Luoshui Village on the edge of Lugu Lake. Despite the matriarchal society here, she still feeds the pigs in the family's courtyard herself. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Aya Jia, 38, chops wood at her home in Luoshui Village. Musuo women are responsible for much of their household's manual labour. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Musuo villagers perform a fire dance for tourists. An increasing number of domestic tourists are drawn to the previously impoverished area around Lugu Lake by the stunning landscape and an exotic ethnic culture. Each night, through the tourist season, a crowd of around 400 are charged 30 yuan (around $5) each to attend these spectacles. Profits are then distributed throughout the surrounding villages. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]

Tourists pose with a Musou woman in traditional dress at a fire dance on the edge of Lugu Lake. The region is experiencing something of a tourism boom. [Dave Tacon/Al Jazeera]